Exploring the Link Between Bipolar Disorder and Hypersexuality

Discover how hypersexuality manifests during manic episodes in bipolar disorder, leading to significant increases in libido and the possible impacts on your life.

Dr. Daniel B. Block, MD, is a distinguished, board-certified psychiatrist practicing privately in Pennsylvania.

Bipolar disorder, often referred to as manic depression, is characterized by extreme mood fluctuations ranging from deep depressive lows to intense manic highs. This condition can profoundly affect your daily life, causing symptoms such as irritability, psychosis, persistent sadness, fatigue, lack of motivation, and a diminished interest in activities once enjoyed.

Bipolar Disorder’s Influence on Sexual Behavior

Beyond these common symptoms, bipolar disorder can significantly impact your sexual drive, especially during manic phases when libido may surge dramatically. This heightened sexual desire is sometimes diagnosed as hypersexuality or sexual addiction, although these labels remain debated among mental health and sexuality experts. Determining what constitutes an excessive sex drive is inherently challenging.

Regardless of terminology, if these behaviors disrupt your life, seeking professional support is essential.

Defining and Recognizing Hypersexuality

Hypersexuality involves an intensified urge or compulsion for sexual activity, frequently emerging as a symptom during manic episodes. It often includes lowered inhibitions and a pursuit of taboo or risky sexual experiences.

As hypersexuality is recognized within the diagnostic framework of bipolar disorder, it's a prevalent aspect of the condition.

It’s important to recognize that yielding to these impulses during mania can jeopardize personal relationships and increase vulnerability to sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

Understanding Sexual Addiction

Sexual addiction, also known as compulsive sexual behavior, involves persistent preoccupation with sexual thoughts and activities to the extent that it interferes with relationships, health, work, or other life areas. Left unaddressed, it can cause significant harm.

Comparable in severity to substance addiction, sexual addiction affects an estimated 3 to 6 percent of adults in the U.S., predominantly males. While not classified as a disorder in the DSM-5, it is recognized as an impulse-control disorder in the ICD-10, the global diagnostic standard.

Common Behaviors Linked to Sexual Addiction

Behaviors typically associated with sexual addiction include:

Engaging in anonymous sex with multiple partners, including one-night stands
Compulsive masturbation
Repeated sexual encounters with sex workers
Frequent visits to adult entertainment venues
Habitual exhibitionism or voyeurism
Inappropriate sexual touching
Multiple extramarital affairs
Sexual assault or abuse, including rape and child sexual abuse

It’s crucial to understand that engaging in any single behavior listed does not automatically indicate addiction.

Potential Consequences of Unchecked Hypersexuality

Compulsive sexual behaviors can carry significant costs, including financial burdens from expenses like sex workers or phone sex services. Professionally, such conduct may lead to job loss. Personally, relationships can suffer severe strain, and health risks, including STIs, increase with indiscriminate sexual activity.

If you’re worried about your sexual behaviors, consulting a healthcare provider or sexuality specialist is highly recommended. Additional therapy or counseling may be necessary alongside bipolar disorder treatment.

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References

Kopeykina I, Kim HJ, Khatun T, et al. Hypersexuality and couple relationships in bipolar disorder: A review. J Affect Disord. 2016;195:1-14. doi:10.1016/j.jad.2016.01.035
Heare MR, Barsky M, Faziola LR. A Case of Mania Presenting with Hypersexual Behavior and Gender Dysphoria that Resolved with Valproic Acid. Ment Illn. 2016;8(2):6546. doi:10.4081/mi.2016.6546
Karila L, Wéry A, Weinstein A, et al. Sexual addiction or hypersexual disorder: different terms for the same problem? A review of the literature. Curr Pharm Des. 2014;20(25):4012-20. doi:10.2174/13816128113199990619

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